ABSTRACT
In the empirical chapters, I discussed the transformation of Oil Co. traditional R&D laboratories into a commercial environment and the implications that this move had on the site and employees’ identities, but more importantly on people’s understanding of innovation. I presented evidence of changes in the power relations that were being redefined in the new organizational order, where the commercialization discourse and values overrode the previously dominant scientific language game, resulting in a ‘commercial innovation’ discourse. In this chapter, I elaborate further the findings of the empirical chapters, in the light of the theoretical framework of power and innovation, and their significance for organizations and for innovation. In particular, I discuss further the suggestion that commercialism changed basic concepts of the traditional scientific language game, i.e. knowledge, research and scientist; I explore in more detail the new innovation language game, and discuss the implications it has on our understanding of knowledge and innovation, and the actions it shapes.
